Rugby: Nothing to lose for Scotland - Dickinson

Scotland are "massive underdogs" and have nothing to lose against Australia in their Rugby World Cup quarterfinal on Monday morning, prop Alasdair Dickinson said.

"I'd say from this World Cup, they are the form team so far, definitely. They were outstanding against England and showed how clinical they can be in that Wales match. It's going to be a huge test for us," Dickinson said.

"There is no doubt we are going to be massive underdogs, but we can take confidence from that fact we've got out of a pretty tough group to reach the quarterfinals. We have nothing to lose. I don't think anybody expects Scotland to win this match."

Australia went through as pool A winners after beating England and Wales at Twickenham, the latter of which saw them reduced to 13 men for a spell during the second half but repelled intense Welsh pressure.

Dickinson said Scotland, pool B runners-up behind South Africa, needed to find a way through a Wallabies defence which has conceded just one try in four games at the tournament.

"It will be difficult. There's no doubt about it. We just have to be confident we can score but we know how difficult it's going to be," he said.

"It seems like they have built a brick wall across their line but we just need to look at what we've done in previous games and see if we can improve."

Scotland can take heart from winning two of their last three meetings, including a memorable 9-6 victory in Australia three years ago, their first since 1982, when Greig Laidlaw kicked a penalty in time added on.

"We have got to go out there and impose ourselves on the game. It's going to take a huge performance from us, there's no doubt about that. But there's no reason why we can't go out there and do something special," Dickinson said.

PLAYERS CITED

Scotland forwards Ross Ford and Jonny Gray have been cited for alleged foul play during Saturday's 36-33 victory against Samoa that sent them into the quarterfinals.

The hearing will take place on Tuesday (local time), World Rugby said.

World Rugby also said Australia forward David Pocock had received a Citing Commissioner Warning for an incident with Wales' Scott Baldwin in Saturday's Pool A decider. A warning equals a yellow card.

"A combination of three yellow cards or Citing Commissioner Warnings accumulated during the tournament will result in a hearing. Pocock is therefore free to play in Australia's quarterfinal against Scotland," World Rugby said.

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